Stop Standing There
by Mrs. Leak
Summary: After the events that followed the '76 championships, you'd think Alyssa and Kelly would be one happy couple, right? Wrong. The two haven't even seen each other since that day, and when they are reunited, Kelly acts like they barely even know each other, leaving Alyssa hurt and confused. Lucky for them, they have a whole trip to Houston with the Bad News Bears to figure it out.


"He's not going to be there, Rach." I insisted as Rachel made a last glance over my clothes and makeup. "And even if he was, it's baseball practice, not a beauty pageant."

"But, if he does swing by, you want to look good, right?" she countered, observing me in the mirror. Yes, we have a mirror, because we also have a bathroom, a living room, and a bedroom. Just a few weeks back, we took the assload of money we'd saved up and bought a tiny one bedroom apartment comfortably close to our old bus stop. We split up into two groups: Sandy, Kit and Mandy and me, Rachel, and Alicia. Both groups took turns sleeping in the bedroom for three nights, one for each person to get a night in the only real bed. And what a beautiful night that was. But that's not the point. The point was that today was the first Bears practice of the new season, and everyone seemed to be taking bets on whether Kelly Leak would show or not.

The last time I saw Kelly was the last day I stepped on a ball field: the day we lost championships. It was also the day of my first kiss, and the day I'd introduced him to all the girls. They'd liked him, I'd liked him and he'd liked me, but apparently it wasn't enough because I hadn't seen him since. Under normal circumstances, I'd be pissed, but Kelly did something weird to me. All I could do was be disappointed and pray that I'd see him sometime soon.

"Can't I just put my guy clothes back on? I don't know how the team will react to me looking like this." I whined.

"This" was the makeover I'd given myself in the off-season. I wore only girls' clothes now, and I wore full on makeup every day. My hair had grown out too, and to make my rebellious side a little more obvious, I'd even gotten blue streaks put in it.

"Hey, if their eyes bug out of their heads, then you pop them back in." Rachel shrugged. "Well, my shift starts in ten minutes, so I'd better get going. Good luck."

I smiled as she happily bounced out the door. After we moved in, Rachel made a fake resume and got a job as a waitress, forever putting prostitution behind her. I was proud; she was too good for that anyway.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I realized that I had to get going too. I looked in the mirror one last time and muttered to myself, "Alright, don't worry. You're still the same person, and they're going to see that. Let's go."

**X-X-X-X**

By the time I got to the field, my worrying had begun to subside. This was my home, and these people knew me at my best. When I walked up to them, though, I got a little worried again, because they were making it sound like our new coach was a real hard ass.

"Hey! Miss me?" I asked, laughing as they all hoarded me with greetings and shouts of excitement.

"Whatever you do, don't look into right field." Ogilvie said, which of course made us all instinctively look into right field. There, walking toward us, was the biggest mass of human flesh I'd ever seen. He was tall and solid, wearing a marroon colored shirt that said 'COACH' on the front and yellow shorts to match. The way he walked I was absolutely positive he'd been a drill sargeant in the past.

"Alright gentlemen," he began, and I was too intimidated to point out that I was a girl. "take your seats. Now let's begin." Once we all made our way to the bleachers, he continued. "Gentlemen, we have a serious game coming up between a double-header at the Houston Astrodome. We'll be in a professional stadium. We'll be in front of a lot of people. The winner from this game will play a team in Japan. Gentlemen I expect to be prepared to win this game."

Then he pulled out his clip board and got to the roll call. "Tanner Boyle."

"Here." Tanner called.

"Timothy Lupus." When Timmy didn't reply, he repeated, "Timothy Lupus."

"The Looper ain't here." Tanner informed Coach Manning.

"Where is he?"

"Looper broke his leg skateboarding." Jimmy replied timidly.

Manning didn't seem to care all that much, and continued on with the list. "Miguel Aguilar."

"Si."

"Speak up, son."

"Si."

"Up, up!"

"Si!" the poor kid practically yelled, looking like he didn't know what to expect.

"Jose Aguilar."

"Here." Jose offered. He'd really gotten better at his English since the season previous.

"Is there something in your mouth, son?"

"Gum."

"Did I give anyone permission to chew gum?" the coach asked with a cold glance at all of us.

"No." the team chorused. All but me, that is. I think all that guy deserved was my stony silence.

"Then I'm going to make this simple. If you want anything, it doesn't matter what it is, you come to me and ask me before hand. In other words, gentlemen," he turned to a little blackboard he'd hung on the fence and began to write, "don't assume anything."

"Who sent this guy, Hitler?" Engelberg smirked, and I smiled with the others, because I wouldn't be all that surprised if he was sent by Hitler.

"What's your name, son?" Manning asked our catcher.

"Elton." he replied after a moment's hesitation. I looked at him quizically. Did he forget that his name was Mike?

"Elton what?"

"John."

At that we all let out a chuckle, but abruptly stopped when the coach said, "Do you have anything to say to the group, Elton?"

"No."

"Then I suggest you pick up your things and leave." We all glanced at each other in disbelief. Engelberg was the only person on the team who could catch for shit.

"What for?"

"Move it, Elton. Move it!" Manning commanded, and by this time I was absolutely positive he'd been a drill sargeant. "I don't want to see you back on this field until you can act like a ball player."

With that, Engelberg indignantly hopped on his bike and left. Now any hope we'd had of this guy being a good coach and turning around like Buttermaker had faded away, because even Buttermaker had put up with Engelberg's crap. Then "Coach" told Ahmad that he was going to call him Andy, and we were losing faith completely. Just after, I swore I heard an all too familiar noise in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" I cautiously whispered to Toby.

"Hear what?" he whispered back.

Maybe I was just delusional, or really desperate, or both. I couldn't have just heard Kelly Leak's bike coming closer to the field. But then he rode into the infield, just as Manning was in the middle of writing 'discipline' on his cute little blackboard. He looked different from the last time I'd seen him. His hair was longer and feathered, and he wore a suede jacket with tassles. He was taller too, probably about as tall as me.

Manning tried to tell him to get off of the field, but Kelly revved his engine, drowning him out. The others were getting excited now, all with wide grins on their faces. On the inside, I was more excited than any of them, but on the outside, I played it off with a cool smirk.

"You talking to me?" he yelled at the coach after Manning's several attempts to tell him off. "Hey, coach! Take a walk. You've been fired."

The coach tried to chase him off the field, but Kelly was better at handling a bike now than he'd ever been. He paraded around like the punk ass all adults thought he was, until Manning finally turned to us and yelled, "Get off the field! You'll never make it to Houston without a coach!"

The other Bears jumped off the bleachers and ran, but I stayed sitting where I was as Kelly just sat on his bike at shortstop. Then I ran out to join him, trying to contain my excitement at all costs.

"Well," I yelled to the coach, "you heard him! Get your fat ass of the field, man!"

And with that, the Great Manning stepped out of my life forever, muttering stuff about "damn kids".

"You know, last time you tried to pull that stunt, you crashed into the center field fence." I said, turning to Kelly.

"Don't remind me." he said, but it wasn't the friendly, slightly flirtatious banter we'd had before. It seemed fake, and I didn't like it.

"All I'm saying is that you've gotten better, Kel." I replied in defense, using the nickname I'd given him when I took him back to the bus stop to meet the girls.

"Thanks but it's Kelly, alright?"

I was confused as hell. Was that last day with him all just a dream? Had he ever kissed me at all? Why was he acting like we were strangers again?

"But what about-" I began before he cut me off.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Just call me Kelly and we're cool. I got to go." Without even a goodbye, Kelly rode away, leaving me not knowing whether I wanted to scream or cry.

**X-X-X-X**

When I got back to the apartment, I didn't have it in me to tell anyone about Kelly's weird behavior, so I just grabbed my new acoustic guitar and went out the door.

See, in the off-season, I'd been singing my song "Because of You" by this little coffee shop downtown and the owner heard me. Her name was Lilian and she said she'd pay me fifty bucks a week if I played live music in her place every day. Money is money to me, so I took the job, bought a guitar and started teaching myself how to play with books and things. Now it was my gig, and I was getting pretty into writing songs. It was my way of getting my emotions out when I don't know how to explain them. It calmed me down.

When I finished my set, I walked home, still not feeling right about the whole Kelly situation. Hopefully I'd see him again sometime soon so we could work it out.

**A.N.- Hey guys! The sequel to **_**Is This Love**_** is here! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and I'd really appreciate some feedback. What do you think about the changes between Kelly and Alyssa? I want to know these things, so please tell me what you think! I also want to give you a heads-up that Alyssa's music is going to be a big aspect of this fanfiction, so if you like that part of her, you're in luck. Til next time! **


End file.
